In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [158]
[On another occasion the Venerable Sāriputta said:] “Here, friend, by completely transcending the base of the infinity of space, aware that ‘consciousness is infinite,’ I entered and dwelled in the base of the infinity of consciousness. Yet, friend, it did not occur to me, ‘I am attaining the base of the infinity of consciousness….’”
[On another occasion the Venerable Sāriputta said:] “Here, friend, by completely transcending the base of the infinity of consciousness, aware that ‘there is nothing,’ I entered and dwelled in the base of nothingness. Yet, friend, it did not occur to me, ‘I am attaining the base of nothingness….’”
[On another occasion the Venerable Sāriputta said:] “Here, friend, by completely transcending the base of nothingness, I entered and dwelled in the base of neither-perception-nor-nonperception. Yet, friend, it did not occur to me, ‘I am attaining the base of neither-perception-nor-nonperception…. ’”
[On another occasion the Venerable Sāriputta said:] “Here, friend, by completely transcending the base of neither-perception-nor-nonperception, I entered and dwelled in the cessation of perception and feeling. Yet, friend, it did not occur to me, ‘I am attaining the cessation of perception and feeling,’ or ‘I have attained the cessation of perception and feeling,’ or ‘I have emerged from the cessation of perception and feeling.’”64
“It must be because I-making, mine-making, and the underlying tendency to conceit have been thoroughly uprooted in your mind for a long time that such thoughts did not occur to you.”
(SN 28:1–9, combined; III 235–38)
IX. Shining the Light of Wisdom
INTRODUCTION
The texts cited in the last chapter treated meditation as a discipline of mental training aimed at a twofold task: stilling the mind and generating insight. The still mind, calm and collected, is the foundation for insight. The still mind observes phenomena as they arise and pass away, and from sustained observation and probing exploration arises “the higher wisdom of insight into phenomena” (adhipaññādhammavipassanā ). As wisdom gathers momentum, it penetrates more and more deeply into the nature of things, culminating in the full and comprehensive understanding called enlightenment (sambodhi).
The Pāli word translated here as “wisdom” is paññā, the Pāli equivalent of Sanskrit prajñā, which gives its name to the voluminous prajñāpāramitā sūtras of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The idea of paññā/prajñā as the principal tool on the path to enlightenment, however, did not originate with the prajñāpāramitā literature but is already deeply embedded in the teachings of Early Buddhism. The Nikāyas take paññā not only as a point of doctrine but as a rich theme for imagery. Thus, Texts IX,1(1)–(2) speak of paññā respectively as a light and a knife. It is the supreme light because it illuminates the true nature of things and dispels the darkness of ignorance. It is a knife—a sharp butcher’s knife—because it cuts through the tangled mass of the defilements and thereby opens the way to liberation.
The Pāli word paññā is derived from the verbal root ñā (Skt: jñā), meaning “to know,” preceded by the prefix pa (Skt: pra), which merely gives the root meaning a more dynamic nuance. So paññā/prajñā means knowing or understanding, not as a possession, but as an action: the act of knowing, the act of understanding, the act of discerning. In Pāli, the verb pajānāti, “one understands,” conveys this sense more effectively than the correlative noun paññā.1 What is meant by paññā, however, is a type of understanding superior to that which occurs when one understands, for instance, a difficult passage in an economics textbook or the implications of a legal argument. Paññā signifies the understanding that arises through spiritual training, illuminates the real nature of things, and culminates in the mind’s purification and liberation. For this reason, despite its drawbacks,